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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29525763">A Thing Revered, A Thing Defiled, A Thing To Be Worshipped And Destroyed</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuladaris/pseuds/fuladaris'>fuladaris</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Power Imbalance, Unhealthy Relationships</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 17:27:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>869</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29525763</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuladaris/pseuds/fuladaris</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, Lysandre touches him like he’s a fragile thing, a precious heirloom that cannot be broken or tainted, lest a curse rain down upon their home. Other times, Lysandre is rough, demanding, molding him into what he most wants to see, chipping away the parts of “Augustine” that he dislikes and shaping them into something more palatable.</p><p>These are things Augustine has asked for.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Fleur-de-lis | Lysandre/Platane-hakase | Professor Augustine Sycamore</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Lysandre Acts</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Aka, I'm continuing reposts of my tumblr fics while I work on chapter 5 of Platanus (one day I'll have all of my old fics on here...one day).</p><p>I wrote this piece for my tumblr blog on Halloween of 2020, and am now re-posting it here on AO3. This is a look at some of the less healthy aspects of a Lysandre/Sycamore relationship - Sycamore has his anxieties, and Lysandre has his warped perceptions of beauty, so I thought, "Why not explore a creepier side of that?"</p><p>And it turned into this heavy drabble.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sometimes, Lysandre touches him like he’s a fragile thing, a precious heirloom that cannot be broken or tainted, lest a curse rain down upon their home.</p><p>Other times, Lysandre is rough, demanding, molding him into what he most wants to see, chipping away the parts of “Augustine” that he dislikes and shaping them into something more palatable.</p><p>These are things Augustine has asked for.</p><p>If Augustine is lucky, Lysandre will do both at once, shaping and changing and then kissing tenderly and sweetly, praising all that he loves and wants to love, forgiving Augustine for the flaws that Lysandre so mercifully works with and fixes, doing all of this for him, giving him worthiness and reason and ensuring that Augustine Sycamore will be, above all, beautiful.</p><p>“Good,” Lysandre sighs, kissing the back of Augustine’s hand, its fingers long and delicate and manicured, even if it is scarred from research and work, scars Lysandre has traced, before. “So good, you are...So pretty...”</p><p>He <em>doesn’t</em> speak when he sees things that <em>displease</em> him, however - just acts. Plucks out a gray hair, smooths his thumb over a wrinkle at the corner of the professor’s eyes, an expression of distaste crossing his features that’s heartbreaking and healing, healing and heartbreaking.</p><p><em>I do not like all of what I</em> <em>see</em>.<em> But you realize I have stayed anyway, yes? See how I fix you? I am endless, endless generosity, and you, pet, are the gracious recipient of all I have to give. Be good and thank me. Thank me for staying with you, for choosing you. Thank me, and be healed.</em></p><p>“Thank you,” Augustine whispers, reading these demands in that gaze, the twitch of Lysandre’s lips into a faint smile all the forgiveness and healing that he needs, “thank you.”</p><p>Even with all the flaws he corrects - even on the days where the tenderness is <em>wholly</em> replaced by demanding roughness, where the professor must prove he is <em>resilient</em> and not <em>fragile</em> - Lysandre always, always, <em>always</em> finishes on something good. He leans back, studies Augustine in his entirety, presses one reverent kiss to some small part of him, something defenseless. His hip, maybe, or the pulse beating in his wrist, or eyelids fluttering shut in anticipation, the ghost of Augustine’s breaths touching Lysandre’s skin as the professor tries not to laugh, for Lysandre’s beard does tickle.</p><p>He leans back, he studies him, and he approves.</p><p>“You really are beautiful, you know. How very lucky I am, to have you,” Lysandre sighs, and under his touch, Augustine is reborn.</p>
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<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Lysandre Reacts</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So, this chapter was also posted in full on tumblr a while ago, although I did not initially connect this chapter and chapter one together. However, when wondering if I wanted to post the content of this chapter, I realized it kind of worked with "A Thing Revered..." </p><p>So, now these two one-shots are one two-shot!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Occasionally, Lysandre wakes up, looks at Augustine sleeping beside him, and thinks “I am so, so lucky to have you.” He reaches out a hand, brushes strands of those messy dark curls out of his pretty partner’s face, marvels over how soft and sweet and angelic he looks, tries to memorize each and every feature (as if he hasn’t already).</p><p>Augustine stirs, slightly, at Lysandre’s touch, but it’s a touch he recognizes, which is why he does not awaken, usually - indeed, he tends to just murmur Lysandre’s name and then slip back into the realm of dreams, dreams Lysandre hopes will always be pleasant and peaceful, for they are what a man like Augustine deserves.</p><p>Yes, usually,  on mornings like this, Augustine does <em>not </em>wake fully until Lysandre has kissed him on the lips, until Lysandre has pulled him closer and begun whispering about how very lucky he is to have Augustine Sycamore, how very <em>unworthy </em>of such a divine, <em>beautiful </em>man as Augustine Sycamore he is...</p><p>And talk like <em>that </em>tends to make Augustine, still half-asleep, giggle and blush, laughing with darkening cheeks the way he used to in the early days of their courtship, and it is so, so sweet, so, so endearing, that he still loves Lysandre so wholly, so purely. </p><p>“Oh, how I don’t deserve you,” Lysandre breathes out against Sycamore’s lips, and even as Sycamore attempts to protest, Lysandre kisses those protests away, because he <em>knows </em>he’s right. He knows what he’s planning, knows age and worry have made him crueler, colder, wonders how Augustine has managed to remain so inquisitive, so bright...</p><p>Yes, occasionally, Lysandre wakes up, looks at Augustine sleeping beside him, and feels guilt, and regret, and the urge to let it all go and apologize, and to run away with him, and to leave the world to its greedy, disgusting devices-</p><p>Because, for these brief, fleeting moments, it feels as if the <em>real </em>world is right next to him, curled up, and sleeping soundly at his side.</p><p>If he does not choose to kiss Augustine on the lips, he instead kisses him on the forehead, a gesture which elicits more of those sighed whisperings of his name but which does not pull the professor fully into the realm of reality, and it is only then, when Sycamore lies sleeping, that Lysandre can actually tell him he’s sorry.</p><p>If Augustine has ever heard this, he has not ever asked what Lysandre is sorry for - nor, indeed, has he ever even <em>mentioned </em>it. Some days, Lysandre is grateful for this. Other days -  like today - he prays to be confronted.</p><p>And yet, he never is.</p><p>Perhaps it is better this way.</p>
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